


a night full of stars

by Ralph_E_Silvering



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anakin & Padme were never a thing, Anakin finally became a Jedi Master, Batuu, Force Bond (Star Wars), Human Disaster Anakin Skywalker, M/M, Mace Windu is Anakin's sitcom archnemisis, Obi-Wan deserves to be happy, The Clone Wars - Freeform, Thrawn makes an appearance, because he's always a human disaster, mild flirting and banter, what is Sheev up to?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-02-26 02:34:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18714748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ralph_E_Silvering/pseuds/Ralph_E_Silvering
Summary: Obi-Wan, Anakin and Ahsoka are sent to Batuu on a mission by the Jedi Council. While there, Anakin and Obi-Wan finally act on the unspoken feelings between them.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> May the Fourth be with you! Here’s my (belated) contribution to Star Wars day.

*** 

_Four years into the Clone Wars, the fighting continues while the Republic fractures more and more. In an effort to finally end the conflict, the Jedi have decoded the last transmission Count Dooku sent before his death. The message was received at Black Spire Outpost on the remote world of Batuu, a planet at the very edge of civilization and supposedly far from the war. The Council sends Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano on a mission to stop the Sith’s plans from coming to fruition. Their mission has to succeed or the Republic itself may be doomed._

***

Anakin Skywalker – Jedi Master of the Order by the skin of his teeth and over Mace Windu’s (metaphorically) dead body – stood on a ridge overlooking Black Spire Outpost. Batuu’s capital city lay fathoms below amid a forest of verdant green. Batuu was a temperate world, green and blue from space, with several large oceans and continents that were covered in a variety of climate zones. 

Black Spire Outpost itself was a city of contrasts; lawless and yet the last outpost of civilization, Republic yet so far outside its borders that she was untouched by the war, and modern but still symbiotic with nature. Giant skyscrapers were built within and on top of towering stone buttes, wide streets wound through petrified trees, and cantinas built next to what they called the Ancient Ruins.

Evening was fast approaching, the sun warm on his back as the sky above turned rose and violet. Lights flickered on in the city, one by one, lighting up the stone edifices like small fireflies in the face of approaching darkness.

Anakin, arms crossed against the chilly wind which increased as evening fell, reached out to the Force, searching for his Padawan. _Former Padawan,_ he reminded himself. Ahsoka was a Jedi Knight now. It was well-deserved; she was more than ready. And _he_ was a Jedi Master. He still felt that rush of pride every time he thought about it. And smug satisfaction at the memory of Mace Windu pronouncing him so, his face looking like he’d swallowed a sour juuba fruit. 

At the back of his mind, in the place where Obi-Wan lived, their bond a bright, warm band connecting the two men, he could feel his master’s faint disapproval. Obi-Wan always became stroppy whenever Anakin dwelled on his recent promotion.

 _It’s been a year, Anakin,_ Obi-Wan’s exasperated tone carried clear across their Force Bond. _I think it’s time you stop reminding Mace you’re a Jedi Master every time you see him._

Anakin sniggered. _Not yet,_ he sent back, and he could feel Obi-Wan rolling his eyes. Anakin grinned. He’d been afraid that eventually Obi-Wan would want to cut their close connection. Neither man could remember exactly when it had morphed from the traditional master-padawan bond into something infinitely more powerful, allowing them to communicate across the galaxy and feel each other’s emotions and, sometimes, even memories.

But Obi-Wan had never mentioned it, nor had he ever made a move to break the bond, and so Anakin had kept his own mouth shut. Just in case Obi-Wan had never actually noticed. 

He could just feel Ahsoka on the edge of his awareness. She seemed alright. He wondered how she was getting on with the mysterious, blue-skinned alien they’d run into in the spaceport. This Mitth’raw’nuruodo or Thrawn or whatever he was calling himself. Anakin wasn’t so sure about Thrawn, but their new ally got on famously with Obi-Wan. 

“Karking shabuir!” broke through the stillness of the night air. There was a sudden bang, metal on metal, and then Obi-Wan’s voice going through a litany of curse words, most of Huttese origin. He must have learned them from Anakin, though the younger man had no idea his master had been paying attention to all those moments of profanity. Some of them were quite creative.

He turned, watching Obi-Wan’s boots dangling out of one of his starship's sub-light engines. Laughing quietly, he walked over to his master, picked up the fallen hydrospanner and reached up into the sub-light engines, over Obi-Wan’s legs, to dangle the tool in front of his master’s face.

“Yes, yes, thank you, Anakin,” came Obi-Wan’s begrudging voice. Lights were on in the engines, and Anakin could make out the engine grease and soot liberally covering Obi-Wan’s usually pristine Jedi robes.

“My, my,” he teased in a scandalised voice, “who knew the esteemed Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi knew such language.”

Obi-Wan snorted, the sound echoing in the confined space of the engine. “Must have been from his reckless and often rude Padawan.

“Oh, I doubt it,” Anakin shot back, grinning. “Have you heard the mouth Ahsoka’s been getting? And Cody could out swear either of us on a good day. And Luminara! I would never have believed it if I didn’t hear it myself.” He sounded shocked and dismayed. 

“Now _that_ I really don’t believe,” Obi-Wan said dryly. Another bang, a quiet sound of discomfort from his Master, and Anakin felt a brief flare of pain in Obi-Wan’s hand through their bond in the Force. His Master had cut himself. Again.

He nudged Obi-Wan’s leg harder. “Budge up, old man,” he commanded, ducking down under the wing of the Delta-7B _Aethersprite_ -class light interceptor he’d privately nicknamed “Wonky” and crawling up into the bottom right sub-light engine.

It was a very tight fit. He had to crawl directly over Obi-Wan and even when they’d both squeezed to make room for each other, they were pressed tight together, the light blocked by their bodies. Anakin could feel Obi-Wan’s quick breath ghosting across his face, but they were too close together for him to meet his master’s eyes. 

“Good job,” Obi-Wan said after a moment. “You’ve now succeeded in making this task even more difficult.”

“You’re just injuring yourself in here,” Anakin returned, feeling lightheaded at Obi-Wan’s close proximity. It wasn’t often they allowed this little space between them. In fact, the last time had been –

Anakin had a brief memory flash of roaming hands, bare skin and breathless kisses – Obi-Wan’s surprised, achingly gentle laughter, the deep, overwhelming feeling of desire burning through them both – before he ruthlessly suppressed it. “Besides,” he managed, through suddenly dry lips. “You wouldn’t have gotten out unless I got in.”

There was a brief silence. “Yes, well, I haven’t exactly gotten out _now_ ,” Obi-Wan said at last, his voice sounding slightly uneven to Anakin’s surprised delight. His body was all hard planes against Anakin’s own. He smelled like sweat and engine fluid and something sweeter and sharper underneath it. Something uniquely Obi-Wan. 

“No,” he agreed, “you haven’t.” He reached up over Obi-Wan’s head, maneuvering them slightly until their bodies were flush together, and with his metal hand he reconnected the breaker tying the ship’s sub-light engines to the alluvial dampers. There was a faint click, a whirr, and then the lights above their heads turned from red to green,

“Ah,” Obi-Wan said at last.

“Ah,” Anakin agreed, looking down at his Master at last. He pulled back slightly, as much as the confined space would allow. Obi-Wan’s blue-green eyes glowed strangely in the lights, deep and unfathomable as he seemed to study Anakin’s face. Anakin could see the erratic pulse at the side of his temple, usually a sign that his Master was at the end of his rope and would become even more sarcastic than usual. 

Obi-Wan licked his lips and Anakin was helpless to prevent himself from following the motion. “Anakin,” Obi-Wan said quietly, always so in control except for now, when he sounded absolutely terrified. “What are we doing?” he asked.

“I have no idea,” Anakin whispered, surprised at the gravelly quality of his own voice. They were both lying on their sides, Obi-Wan’s left leg between both of Anakin’s own, his master’s arms supporting Anakin. He could surely feel how turned on Anakin was, just from being pressed against the person he loved most in the entire galaxy. Anakin shifted, bring himself even closer. Obi-Wan hadn’t pushed him away yet.

 _Do you ever?_ He could feel Obi-Wan’s response ghosting through both their minds.

Anakin leaned even closer, watching Obi-Wan’s eyes flutter shut as he brushed the softest of kisses over his Master’s lips. Obi-Wan released a shaky breath. The last time they’d done this they’d both been drunk out of their minds. It had been a celebration for the election of a new Supreme Chancellor, the former Senator Padmé Amidala of Naboo. They’d both underestimated the effects of Naboo royal wine and had ended up in a deserted corridor, behind a pillar, messily kissing each other like drowning men seeking air and bringing each other off in an embarrassingly short time. From what Anakin could remember, they’d then repeated that more than once.

“Do you want me to stop?” he asked, just brushing Obi-Wan’s lips with his own.

His Master groaned. “Don’t you dare,” he threatened, that elegant, Coruscanti voice of his full of command. Anakin felt a shiver of desire roll down his back to pool in his groin. He groaned, burying his hands in Obi-Wan’s soft hair and attaching himself to the other man like a rathtar. 

Obi-Wan laughed softly, that chuckle of his which was full of surprised happiness and which Anakin had only heard once before, the stars of a Coruscanti night shining down on them. He kissed him then, all lips and tongue; deep, desperate kisses that Obi-Wan gradually mellowed until they were soft caresses, quick brushes, before he kissed Anakin so deeply that the other Jedi thought he might die from lack of oxygen before they finished.

He was dizzy and insanely happy and more turned on than he had ever been in his life. He smiled, besotted, up at Obi-Wan.

A voice came from outside the _Aethersprite_. “Am I interrupting anything?” Ahsoka. And she sounded very amused.

Anakin shot up so fast that he smacked his head right into the side of the sub-light engine’s walls. “Ow!”

He could feel Obi-Wan shaking with silent mirth even as his Master reached up to press soothing fingers against his head, the pain receding in a cool wave of the Force.

“Just finishing up some repairs,” Obi-Wan called to Ahsoka. “We’ll be out in just a second.” 

Anakin was gratified to hear the slight unsteadiness in his Master’s voice. Obi-Wan was so cool, so untouchable, that sometimes Anakin had trouble knowing how his Master actually felt. But Anakin got to see the man underneath the Jedi Master more and more every day, and he loved that man, all of him, more than he could say. He just had to be stubborn about it to make Obi-Wan see that.

“This isn’t over,” he warned his Master, even as he wriggled back out from the engine.

Obi-Wan seemed to be chagrined, exasperated and… _aroused_? all at once. “I didn’t expect it to be,” he said, sighing in such a way to let Anakin know he was pretending to be annoyed by the situation but wasn’t actually that annoyed.

Obi-Wan Kenobi had a thousand different expressions for dealing with Anakin and his former Padawan had been sure he’d seen them all. Except that laugh of his, the one that said he was happy and had never expected to be this happy, was new. And now that Anakin had seen it, heard it, he was determined to see more of it. 

He fell out of the engine, got to his feet, and watched Obi-Wan exit much more gracefully. He could feel Ahsoka’s amusement behind him and the enigmatic presence of Thrawn. He gave Obi-Wan his most devil-may-care smile, the one Obi-Wan claimed was too smug and arrogant for his own good. He had a sneaking suspicion Obi-Wan actually found it charming. 

There was a faint tinge to his Master’s cheeks which might have been embarrassment and might have been something else. He winked at Obi-Wan and the blush deepened even as Obi-Wan rolled his eyes and gave him a reproving look. 

They turned to hear Ahsoka’s and Thrawn’s report, but Anakin couldn’t keep the grin off his face.

Later. After all the night was young and it was, moreover, a night full of stars. The best kind of night; one full of possibility.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a bit of sappy fluff. I swear, I started this off from Obi-Wan’s POV and then Anakin just hijacked the narrative. Typical. 
> 
> Maybe I'll do a part two from Obi-Wan's POV if anyone is interested.


	2. a brilliant light in a velvet black sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan has several problems at the moment, but Anakin Skywalker is at the top of the list.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As requested, here’s part II – Obi-Wan’s POV. It picks up right from the end of part I. The trio’s adventures on Batuu continue. I’m really glad so many of you liked the first part and I hope the second part doesn’t disappoint!

a brilliant light in a velvet black sky

by quicksilvering

***

“We have a problem,” the blue-skinned Chiss commander Mitth’raw’nuruodo said in Sy Bisti – the trade language used most often at the edge of Wild Space. His glowing red eyes flickered between Obi-Wan and Anakin in a way that said he was seeing more than most humanoids would. Obi-Wan had noticed the previous evening that Thrawn, for so he had given them permission to call him, moved as easily through darkness as any Jedi. Yet he was not Force sensitive as far as Obi-Wan could tell, despite the strange opaqueness of his emotions in the Force. A puzzle indeed.

_Perhaps he has heightened spatial awareness like Ahsoka does due to her Togrutan montrals,_ Obi-Wan mused to himself. Or perhaps Chiss possessed the ability to see in a wider ranger than just the visible spectrum. A thought to ponder further when he had a moment. As always, there was something else demanding his immediate attention. 

“Yeah, and what’s that?” Anakin growled, folding his arms and giving Thrawn an unimpressed look. He looked the man up and down in a cutting fashion, which Obi-Wan could feel Thrawn very pointedly not responding to.

Obi-Wan felt a wave of fondness for his former Padawan. To most he knew that Anakin’s behavior would come across as surly and belligerent, perhaps even as a young man insecure in the face of an older military officer’s competence.

But it was actually Anakin’s rather cunning tactic to throw potential enemies or unknown allies off balance. Obi-Wan smooth-talked them, befriended them, even flirted with them on occasion. And Anakin annoyed them, questioning their loyalties or abilities at every turn. Everyone revealed more than they meant to when faced with Obi-Wan’s ‘charm’ and Anakin’s ‘arrogance.’

But Anakin, his beloved, rash, egotistical and yet still sometimes terribly insecure Anakin, thought Obi-Wan didn’t notice what he was doing.

“Anakin,” he chided gently, even as he let Anakin feel his amused exasperation and approval. They fell into sync so easily, something he and Qui-Gon had never managed. “We’re all on the same side here.”

Anakin grunted expressively.

Ahsoka, standing next to Thrawn and surveying her masters with slight curiosity – and just _what_ , exactly, did his hair and robes look like after Anakin had finished with him? He was still flustered, his face giving off too much heat and Anakin…

He chanced a glance towards the young man and wished he hadn’t. Swollen lips, heavy-lidded eyes, presence utterly relaxed and confident in the Force. Anakin had this cocky grin on his face – lazy and self-satisfied. Combined with the fact that his golden-brown curls looked like someone had run their hands through them repeatedly – because Obi-Wan _had_ – they both must look like they’d –

Obi-Wan felt a hot swoop of embarrassment swiftly followed by an entirely inappropriate rush of…want, arousal, the image of Anakin spread out below him, or above him, all around him and all Obi-Wan’s. Entirely Obi-Wan’s.

He felt slightly sick now, emotions warring through him – guilt, shame, want, love – and knew the silence was lasting too long. He felt Anakin’s sudden concern, heard Ahsoka clear her throat. 

“You see what I have to deal with?” she said, light and teasing to Thrawn, playing along with Anakin’s antics just like Obi-Wan always did. She’d noticed what Anakin was doing as well, of course. She’d always been so perceptive where her master was concerned, balancing him in all the ways Obi-Wan and Yoda had hoped she might.

And as a child prodigy herself, Anakin had been the only one able to challenge Ahsoka, give her something to strive towards. She was the youngest Jedi Knight in a thousand years and Obi-Wan was so damn proud of her.

Catching the drift in his thoughts, he brought his mind back to the present. _Here and now_ , he reminded himself firmly. _If both Thrawn and Ahsoka are concerned..._ He took comfort in rules and regulations, in his well-worn role of peacemaker; the one who kept everyone on track. It gave him a bit of control in a galaxy where he always felt everything was so far beyond him. And that control gave him a certain clarity of thought he appreciated in moments like this. “It is as we feared,” he surmised. “The Separatists have established a presence here.”

“Indeed,” Thrawn said. “And it appears to be much larger than we expected.”

Ahsoka’s grimace spoke volumes.

“This has Dooku’s claws written all over it.” Anakin’s voice was grim.

“Yeah, but what did he want all the way out here?” Ahsoka challenged, ticking off points on her fingers. “This place is too remote. It’s not near any major hyperspace lanes, there aren’t any Republic bases in this sector and Batuu doesn’t manufacture anything the Separatists would want.”

“Perhaps,” Thrawn interjected coolly, “this Dooku you speak of hoped to establish a station here from which to begin incursions into Wild Space and what you call the Unknown Regions.” 

There was a pause from Anakin and Ahsoka as they thought this over and then they both began to hotly refute that idea, turning to face Thrawn with identical expressions of stubbornness.

Obi-Wan let their voices wash over him as he thought. Above him night finally fell, and the stars appeared one by one, brilliant sparks of light in a velvet black sky. Around him the wind moved, rustling long grasses, the leaves of the trees high above, and Anakin’s curls. In the underbrush native species scurried and crawled. Down in Black Spire Outpost people went home to their families, went out for a drink, committed crimes, went to sleep. A ship blasted off, ion engines straining as it raced for outer space and reached upwards to the stars.

He could feel the connections in this place, the invisible lines linking all living things together.

A base to launch incursions somewhere into Wild Space had some merit, he supposed. Dooku had had delusions of grandeur towards the end. Him and his hidden master; the unknown Sith they still had to find. Though the more likely scenario was the simple idea that Batuu had something the Separatists wanted. A natural resource perhaps. Though Obi-Wan had, at present, no idea what that could be.

“Well maybe we should comm the Council,” Anakin was saying loudly. “Oh wait,” he continued, laying the sarcasm on thick, “ _Master_ Windu would tell me my judgment was clouded and to wait while they ‘discussed’ the situation in a committee.”

Ahsoka snorted. “You seemed to be alright with Master Windu ‘discussing’ the situation when he got you out of being sacrificed to a minor deity that time on Endor.” She still sounded amused by the memory.

“That was one time!” Anakin burst out, affronted, waving his arms for emphasis.

“Is he always this dramatic?” Thrawn’s quiet, controlled voice was bemused as he looked at Obi-Wan and Ahsoka.

“Oh yes.” Ahsoka nodded her head in a world-weary manner.

“I am _not_ dramatic!”

“Master Obi-Wan says he’s a bit high-strung,” Ahsoka stage-whispered.

There was a chocking sound from Anakin. “Oh, very mature,” he said, though Obi-Wan could see him fighting back a smile. Thrawn didn’t seem to know what to make of any of them.

Obi-Wan cleared his throat. “Let’s go and see what they’re up to,” he said, effortlessly breaking up the minor squabble. At their confused looks he added, “The Separatists, not the Jedi Council.” Obi-Wan looked over at Anakin and then away again. The other man’s hair still looked like he’d been dragged backwards through a hedge, and there was a tantalising hint of tanned skin peeking through the top of his rumpled tunic. “Perhaps we should split into teams?” He looked hopefully at Ahsoka. He needed time to process what had happened with Anakin. He needed time _away_ from Anakin.

Except Ahsoka was pretending to be selectively blind and deaf to his pleas. “Great idea!” she announced enthusiastically. “We’ve triangulated the most likely location of their base from exit vectors some of the locals have been taking out of the city. We think they might be working at the base…or whatever it is the Separatists are up to. I’ll send you the coordinates. Thrawn and I will come up from the south-east and you two can approach from the south-west.”

Talking a mile-a-minute, she tugged Thrawn’s sleeve as she began backing from the clearing. Before Obi-Wan had a chance to get in a word edgewise, she and Thrawn were gone, leaving a sudden silence. The night closed in around them.

Anakin sighed happily. “Ahsoka is the best Padawan ever.”

“Former Padawan,” Obi-Wan said automatically, even as he sighed internally. So much for time to process.

“Yes, _Master_.” The grin Anakin sent him was so cheeky, so full of innuendo included in the continued use of that title, that Obi-Wan felt himself turn red again. Force take the man!

For a moment he remembered that night on Coruscant, the newly-elected Chancellor’s party, and the heat in Anakin’s eyes as he turned to Obi-Wan, called him ‘Master,’ and slowly sank down to his knees before him. Obi-Wan had thought he was dreaming, his head swimming from alcohol and sudden, hard arousal, his legs buckling as Anakin took Obi-Wan into his mouth, eyes never leaving his Master’s face. He wondered if Anakin remembered that night – if he knew how long Obi-Wan had truly wanted him…

“Now, where were we?” Anakin continued, voice turning slightly rough as he took a half step towards Obi-Wan, their bodies now almost touching and Anakin’s body heat, his blazing-bright presence in the Force, causing Obi-Wan’s heartrate to skyrocket. He hurriedly took a step back.

“Try to remember we have a job to do, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said, knowing his accent, the posh tones of Coruscant he’d assimilated in childhood, were even more pronounced in his discomfort. He wanted Anakin – wanted anything the other man would give him – but at the same time…it was such a bad idea.

Because they were Jedi. Because they were at war. Because they had a duty to the Republic and its people first and foremost.

…Because Obi-Wan didn’t trust himself to think rationally around Anakin Skywalker.

He clipped on his utility belt and lightsaber, powered down his starship and headed away from the clearing, calling up Ahsoka’s directions on his scanner as he went. Anakin followed him without complaint. “Right,” the younger man said agreeably, as they passed the first line of trees, plunging into complete darkness and away from the faint starlight. “Mission first, sex later.”

“Anakin!”

Anakin’s laugher was as bright as his Force presence. “Sorry.” He sounded sincere. Obi-Wan could feel him probing their bond then, could feel a flare of guilt in him. “I’m not making you uncomfortable, am I?”

_You always make me uncomfortable,_ Obi-Wan thought but did not say. That wasn’t helpful in this situation. And neither was their continued Force bond. He should have broken it years ago – when he suspected they’d both become so dependent on each other – but he just…couldn’t. He could no longer remember what the Force felt like without Anakin’s blazing presence singing in it.

He sighed quietly. “No, Anakin.” Wry amusement at his own inconsistencies curled his lips into a half-smile. “Carry on.” To be perfectly honest, Obi-Wan wasn’t even sure he had the willpower to stop Anakin. He wasn’t sure he really wanted to. Besides he was…curious. About what Anakin would do.

Anakin preened. “I’m irresistible,” he agreed.

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes again. “That’s not quite the word I’d use.”

“Oh?” In two swift strides Anakin was abreast of him, pulling Obi-Wan into his arms and walking him backwards until his Master’s back hit the nearest tree. Covering Obi-Wan’s body entirely with his own, he bent down the slightest bit and claimed the Jedi Master’s lips in a deep, searching kiss.

Obi-Wan felt like all the air had been punched out of his lungs. Helplessly he kissed Anakin back, arching up into the others grasp, hands going to Anakin’s curls again to tug the other man closer, angle his head and kiss him even more deeply. 

_Oh_ , Anakin thought again helplessly, the word echoing clear through their Force bond as Obi-Wan licked up into Anakin’s mouth, wanting, _needing_ to taste all of his Padawan.

He felt the other man’s knees buckle, felt him lean heavily against Obi-Wan, their bodies pressed together in a delightful way that had the last bit of rational thought leaving Obi-Wan’s head at lightspeed.

All he could feel was Anakin – the hard planes of his body, the rough pads of his fingertips as he brushed them hesitantly over Obi-Wan’s skin – the taste of him, the salty-sweetness of his mouth, hot and breathless on Obi-Wan’s own – the smell of him, musk and sweat, the ever-present engine grease and a scent Obi-Wan always just associated with sunlight-on-sand.

Their bond was completely open, thoughts and feelings magnified between them into a never-ending loop. Force, Obi-Wan thought, pulling back from Anakin, the back of his head scraping against the rough back of the ancient tree behind him as he gasped for air. Too much. He looked up. Between the whispering leaves in the canopy high above him, Obi-Wan could just make out the night sky.

Anakin, not to be deterred, shifted his attention to Obi-Wan’s neck, kissing and licking up the tender skin there and sending sparks of pleasure through Obi-Wan’s body.

“So,” he said, voice sounding wrecked and lips brushing teasingly over the pulse-point in Obi-Wan’s throat. “What word would you use to describe me, Master?”

“Incorrigible,” Obi-Wan said promptly, even as Anakin distractingly began to kiss up his throat, hands now braced on either side of Obi-Wan’s head. “Maddening,” he continued, as Anakin’s lips brushed against the shell of his ear. “Extremely annoy-” he gasped as Anakin licked his ear, the fell of it shockingly wet in the cool, night breeze. “Annoying,” he got out at last.”

Anakin’s grin against his skin was feral. He rolled his hips deliberately up into Obi-Wan’s.

_Perfect,_ he thought, seeing stars again. The unspoken word echoed in the Force between them.

Anakin froze, shock coursing through him and through the Force. He pulled back to look at Obi-Wan’s face. His eyes were huge in the darkness, his golden hair glinting slightly – a reflection from the rising moonlight.

Obi-Wan reached up to stroke slightly-shaking fingers against Anakin’s chin. “Beautiful,” he whispered.

And then Anakin was kissing him again, desperate and overwhelmed, and all Obi-Wan could do was hold on.

The insistent beeping of the comm slowly pierce through the fog in Obi-Wan’s brain.

Anakin growled in annoyance, made a half-hearted attempt to keep kissing Obi-Wan, until his Master nimbly extricated himself and pulled the comm off his belt.

“Kenobi,” he said, congratulating himself on his mostly steady voice.

“Master?” Ahsoka, of course. “We’re in position. Where are you?”

“Ah.” Obi-Wan looked around them at the dark trees. They were nowhere close to Ahsoka’s coordinates. “We, ah, ran into some problems,” he said, ignoring Anakin’s raised eyebrows, his bright, amused smile.

“Anakin problems?” Ahsoka sounded knowing.

“Anakin problems,” Obi-Wan agreed. He couldn’t seem to help the warm glow of happiness he felt, a happiness he’d never expected to find. It was happening more and more around Anakin lately. The Force was mellow now, Anakin’s presence steady and calm beside him.

Anakin problems indeed. Somehow, they didn’t seem so daunting – the extraordinary passion between them didn’t seem quite so overwhelming – as they had at the beginning of the night.

“We’ll be there soon,” he told Ahsoka quietly before comm’ing off.

Anakin was watching him, a faint question mixed within his vibrant Force presence. For a moment they both stood there, gazing at one another in the faint moonlight peeking through the trees. Eyes roamed familiar features that looked wonderful and strange now that everything had changed. Around them the wind whispered and ahead Ahsoka was waiting.

Anakin took a deep breath. “We’d better get going,” he said reluctantly, stepping back away from Obi-Wan with difficulty. “Besides, the sooner we get done with this mission the sooner we can get back to…” he trailed off suggestively. Obi-Wan couldn’t help that damnable flip of his heart, the heat on his cheeks when Anakin flashed a roguish grin at him.

He had no idea what Anakin saw in his face, but he kissed Obi-Wan, hard, before plunging back into the trees and making record time as he began ascending the hills that hid the Separatist base.

“Come on, Master,” he called. “Ahsoka’s waiting.”

Obi-Wan smiled, shook his head in mild exasperation – Anakin was going to trip a hidden sensor if he wasn’t careful – and followed.

 

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anakin’s issues with Mace Windu continue, lol. And Obi-Wan spends a lot of time at first thinking about everything else but the problem at hand, namely what he’s going to do about Anakin. Anakin’s not having it, of course.


End file.
